Machine for breaking up cartridge-shells.



H. D. HODGE.

MACHINE FOR BREAKING'UP CARTRIDGE SHELLS.

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APPLIUATILON FILED MAR. 18*, 1910. 11 11 d r 0 1m: NORRIS PETERS 00., WASHINGTON, n c.

H. D. HODGE.

MACHINE FOR BREAKING UP CARTRIDGE SHELLS.

APPLIOATIOH FILED MAR. 18, 1910 982,496. Patented Jan. 24, 1911.

7 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

THE NORRIS PETERS ca WASHINGTON, o. c.

H. 1). HODGE. MACHINE FOR BREAKING UP CARTRIDGE SHELLS.

APPLICATION TILED MAR. 18, 1910. Patented Jan 24,

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THE "cams PsrERscm, WASHINGTON, D, c

H. 1). HODGE. MACHINE FOR BREAKING UP GARTRIDGE SHELLS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 18, 1910.

Patented Jan.24, 1911.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 4..

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APPLICATION FILED MAR. 18, 1910. Patented Jan. 24,

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APPLIOATION FILED MAB- 18, 1910.

Patented Jan. 24, 1911.

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THE murals PETERS C0,, WAsHlivaToN, :17 c.

H. D. HODGE. MACHINE FOR BREAKING UP GARTRIDGE SHELLS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 18, 1910. 982,496

Patented Jan. 24, 1911.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 7.

17212622507 liflliodge by 6019 fliio THE nonms PETERS Cm, WASHINGTON. n. c

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HOWARD DOUGLAS HODGE, OF WALTHAM ABBEY, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO NOBELS EXPLOSIVES COMPANY, LIMITED, 013 GLASGOW, SCOTLAND.

MACHINE FOR BREAKING UP CARTRIDGE- HELLS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 18, 1910.

Patented Jan. 2st, 1911. Serial No. 550,198.

12) all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Howrum DOUGLAS Honor manager of \Valtham Factory Nobel's Explosives Co. Ltd., a citizen of the United States, residing at Joyce House, Valtham Abbey, Essex, England, have invented a new and useful Machine for Breaking up Cartridge-Shells, of which the following is a specification.

'10 In cartridge factories there are many waste shells comprising both those which have been rejected owing to some fault in their construction and those which have been employed for testing purposes and so on.

it the present time these waste shells are usually burned in order to recover the metal and this burning of course involves the loss of a considerable quantity of valuable material.

69 The object of this invention is to provide a machine by which cartridge shells can be broken up or separated into their component parts without the destruction of any of the material from which they are formed. Such 25 a machine comprises means for carrying the shells past a succession of appliances, the first of which ejects the cap or primer, the second ejects the cap chamber, the third pulls off the head, and the fourth ejects the 39? base wad leaving only the shell or tube.

The accompanying drawings show a ma chine made in accordance with this invention.

Figure 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 a side .235): view and Fig. 3 a sectional plan. Fig. st

shows a detail. Figs. 5 and 6 are an elevation and plan respectively of the mechanism for removing the primer. Fig. 7 shows the ejection of the cap chamber. Fig. 8 shows the removal of the head. Figs. 9 and 10 show details of the'mechanism for holding the shell during the removal of the head.

Fig. 11 shows the removal of the base wad,

and Fig. 12 shows the method of taking the "455" tube off the machine. Fig. 13 shows a detail.

The shells to. be destroyed are placed by hand on pins 1 standing up from the face of a horizontal table 2 to which a step by Tstcp movement of rotation is imparted as follows :-3 is the main shaft to which move ment may be imparted by a belt on the pulley 4. On this shaft is a disk 5, a crank pin 0 on which takes into a slot- 7 in the upper end of a long lever 8 pivoted to the frame at 9. The lower end of the lever is linked by a link 10 to a slide 11 which is thus slid backward and forward in guides 12. The front end of this slide carries a driving pawl 13 which engages teeth around the circumference of the table 2, thus driving the table step by step in an anticlockwise direction as seen from above. A spring 14: shown only in Fig. 3 is provided to keep the pawl 13 up to its work.

In order that the table may be securely locked between its steps, a locking pawl 15 is provided to take into radial notches 1G in the table. This pawl is drawn in and out in guides 17 by the lower end of a long lever 18 which is pivoted to the frame at 19 and is rocked by means of the inner face of the disk 5 which is suitably shaped for the purpose.

Most of the tools for effecting the opera- ,tions already referred to are carried by a tool carrier or head 20 which is moved up and down in guides 21 by cranks 22 on the main shaft 3 (see Fig. l

A shell that has been placed by an operator in front of the machine upon one of the pins (some of which it may be remarked are omitted from Figs. 1 and 2 for the sake of clearness) is carried by the revolution of the table beneath a spring punch on the tool carrier which punch pushes it right down on to the pin should it not already have been so pushed down by the operator. Should however the shell have been so damaged that it cannot be pushed right down the downward movement of the punch is arrested and the machine is thereby stopped as follows :-The top of the punch rocks (see Fig. 4) a lever 2.4: pivot-ed at 25 to the tool carrier and this lever in its turn rocks a. quad ant 26 which moves a pin 27 to the right and this forces an arm 28 against a spring plunger 29 from beneath a stop 30. This arm is linked by the link 31 to another arm 32 pivoted at 33 and pulled upward by a spring 34-. As soon therefore as the arm 28 passes from beneath its stop 30, this spring pulls the arm 32 up and an incline upon this arm comes into the path of a clutch pin 36 on the main shaft 3, throws out the clutch and stops the machine. All this stop mechanism is the same as that described in my former Patent h 0. 937,604. During the next step of the table the primer is ejected as follows :All the pins 1 have axial holes in I tinue its downward movement.

them and in each hole is a vertical pusher 37 seen clearly'in Fig. 5. This pusher is nor mally kept down by a spring 38 so that its top does not protrude from the pin 1 but as the table goes around the base of the pusher comes to and rides up an incline 39 beneath the table and this causes the point or tip of the pusher to pass up through the base wad and through the hole in the cap chamber and impinge upon the base of the anvil and thus force the primer a up as seen in Fig. 5. During this upward movement of the pusher the cartridge is held down by means of a fixed arm 40 which projects over the path of the pin and has a groove 41 cut in it into which the primer can rise. The table then stops with the cartridge shell in the position illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 and the primer is removed as follows :A fixed bracket 42 has in it guides in which can move a slide 43 urged forward by a spring 44 into a position decided by a lug 45 on the slide meeting an adjustable stop 46. In this position a hook 47 on the front of the slide is inside the path of the primer which is thus brought within the hook. a wedge 48 upon it comes against a roller 49 on the slide and moves the slide to the left as seen in Figs. 5 and 6, the slide having a slot 50 cut in it to permit the wedge to con- Owing to the shape of the wedge, the slide moves quickly and throws the primer into a chute 51 by which it may be conducted to a bucket containing water. After the tool carrier has risen the table moves on and brings the cartridge shell whose adventures I am following beneath the tool for removing the cap chamber.

It will be observed that hitherto the shell has been supported by the cap chamber 7) resting on the top of the pin 1 but now a hollow punch 52 on the tool carrier descends and pushes the shell down until. the base wad (Z rests upon a shoulder 53 on the pin 1. The hole in the punch is sufficiently large to allow the punch to descend over the cap chamber 5 which is prevented by the top of the pin 1 from moving down with the rest of the shell and the flared mouth of the chamber therefore passes above spring catches 54 in the punch 52 one of which is clearly shown in Fig. 7. Each cap chamber that is so caught in the punch pushes up those which preceded it and the chambers thus rise up through the punch to a flexible tube which delivers them to a suitable receptacle. The next part to be removed is the head and it is necessary to hold the tube very firmly while the head is dragged off. To so hold the tube I provide two jaws 55 (see Figs. 8 9 and 10) which are carried by sliding plates 56 and grip the tube between them. These plates move on fixed guides 57 and their movement is controlled by fixed As the tool carrier now descends pins 58 engaging slots 59 in the plates. Bearings 60 on the plates support two axles 61 carrying two flanged rollers 62 between which hangs a cranked arm 63 fast on the tool carrier. While the table is moving the arm 63 is up and the plates are back in the position in which they are shown in Fig. 9 so that the case can take up the position marked in that figure. As the carrierdescends the arm 63 forces the plates forward and as they move forward they close together owing to the action of the pins 58 in the slots 59 until they come into the position in which they are shown in Figs. 8 and 10 thus gripping the shell between them. The rear slots 59 are so formed as to give a little play on the rear pins 58 and springs 64 pull the rear end of the plates apart thus forcing the jaws together. The scissors-like action of the plates due to such springs may be limited by adjustable stops 65 enga ing lugs 66 on the plates. A hollow tool 6% in the tool carrier now descends over the head and the hooks 68 of sliding catches 69 engage beneath the fiange of the head 0 and as the carrier rises these hooks pull off the head which passes up into the interior of the tool and is conducted to a suitable receptacle. The wad d and tube a next stop beneath an inspector punch 7 0 on the carrier the function of which is to stop the machine should the head not have been picked off by the mechanism just described. Should a head be present the punch 70 is moved relatively to the carrier and comes against one end of a lever 71, the other end of which turns the quadrant 26 to stop the machine as already described.

72 is a hand lever for stopping the'machine when desired. This lever engages an arm 73 to which is pivoted a rod 74 which can thus be forced up by depressing the handle. As it rises its nose comes against an incline 7 5 which forces it out and this outward movement forces out the arm 28 (see Figs. 1 and 13) to throw out the clutch as already described. The wad and tube now arrive beneath the appliance shown in Fig. 11 which is a hollow punch 76 on the tool carrier. The orifice in this punch is sufliciently large to enable it to pass over the wad (Z but it engages the top of the tube e and forces this tube farther down the pin 1 until it comes against project-ions 7 7 thereon. As the carrier rises spring catches 7 8 in the punch 76 retain the wad which passes up through the punch and is led away to a receptacle. All that now remains is the tube 6 which is picked off at the next stop of the table by a hollow pick off 79 provided with spring catches 80 which engage the bottom edge of the tube. As however this pick off has to have a much longer travel than the others already described, it is carried not by the carrier directly but is slid in the carrier and through a guide 81 by a lever 82 pivoted at 83 to the carrier and slotted at its far end to embrace a pin 8% on the frame as is plainly seen in Figs. 1 and 3. As therefore the carrier moves the pick off 7 9 receives not only the movement of the carrier but also a movement relative to the carrier and the sum of these movements is suficient to enable the catches 80 to pass down below the tube 6 which is then pulled off the pin 1 and passes up through the pick off from the top of which it falls into a receptacle or is conducted away by a flexible pipe. The bottom of the pick ofi is slotted at 85 to clear the projections 77. The cartridge shell has thus been separated into its component parts without the destruction of any of the material.

Vhat I claim is 1. The combination of a carrier, a series of tools carried thereby for removing successively the primer, the cap chamber, the head and the base wad of cartridge shells, means for reciprocating the carrier, a table beneath the carrier, pins projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support the shells, means for imparting a step-bystep movement to the table to bring each shell-carrying pin successively in line with each of the tools and means for clamping each shell on its pin while its head is being removed.

2. The combination of a reciprocating carrier, means carried thereby for removing successively the primer, the cap chamber, the head and the base wad of cartridge shells, a table beneath the carrier, )ins projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support the shells, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation to the table and means for clamping each shell on its pin while its head is being removed.

3. The combination of a reciprocating carrier, means carried thereby for removing successively the component parts of cartridge shells, a table beneath the carrier pins projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support the shells, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation to the table to bring the shell-carrying pins successively into line with the several means for removing different parts of the shells, pushers working in the pins and adapted to eject the primers from the shells and automatic means for causing the pushers to protrude from the pins as the table rotates.

4. The combination of a reciprocating carrier, means carried thereby for removing successively the component parts of cartridge shells. a table beneath the carrier pins projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support the shells, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation to the table, pushers working in the pins and adapted to eject the primers from the shells, automatic means for causing the pushers to protrude from the pins as the table rotates, and means for removing the primers thus ejected during a stoppage of the table.

5. The combination of a reciprocating carrier, means carried thereby for removing successively the component parts of cartridge shells, a table beneath the carrier, pins projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support the shells, means for imparting a step-by-step movement of rotation to the table, a fixed incline beneath the table, pushers slidable in the pins and riding on the incline as the table rotates, and means for removing the primers ejected by the pushers.

S. The combination of a reciprocating carrier, means carried thereby for removing successively the component parts of cartridge shells, a table beneath the carrier pins projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support the shells, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation to the table, pushers working in the pins and adapted to eject the primers from the shells, automatic means for causing the pushers to protrude from the pins as the table rotates, a slidable hook situated in the path of the primer thus ejected, and a wedge upon the car ier adapted to withdraw the hook during a stoppage of the table.

7. The combination of a table, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation thereto, a pin projecting from the surface thereof and having a point adapted to pass through the base wad of a cartridge shell placed on the pin and engage the cap chamber thereof, a tool carrier, a hollow punch thereon adapted to push the cartridge shell down onto the pin, catches adapted to retain in the punch the cap chamber thus forced out of the shell and means for reciprocating the carrier.

8. The combination of a table, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation thereto, a pin projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to butt against the base wad of a cartridge shell placed upon it, a tool carrier, a hollow punch thereon adapted to push the cartridge shell down onto the pin, catches adapted to retain in the punch the wad thus forced out of the shell and means for reciprocating the carrier.

9. The combination of a table, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation thereto, a pin projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support a cartridge shell, means for gripping the shell upon the pin, a tool carrier, spring catches carried thereby and adapted to close over and pull off the head of the cartridge and means for reciprocatingthe carrier.

10. The combination of a table, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation thereto, a pin projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support a cartridge shell, a tool carrier, a pair of sliding jaws adapted to grip the shell upon the pin, an arm on the carrier adapted to slide the jaws backward and forward, means for forcing the jaws together as they move forward, spring catches on the carrier adapted to close over and pull oif the head of the cartridge and means for reciprocating the carrler.

11. The combination of a table, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation thereto, a pin projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support a cartridge shell, a pusher working in the pin and adapted to eject the primer from the shell, means for causing the pusher to protrude from the pin, means for gripping the shell upon the pin, a tool carrier, spring catches carried thereby and adapted to close over and pull off the head of the cartridge and means for reciprocating the carrier.

12. The combination of a table, means for imparting a step by step movement of rota-- tion thereto, a pin projecting from the sur face thereof and adapted to support a cartridge shell, a pusher working in the pin and adapted to eject the primer from the shell, means for causing the pusher to protrude from the pin, a tool carrier, a pair of sliding jaws adapted to grip the shell upon the pin, an arm on the carrier adapted to slide the jaws backward and forward, means for forcing the jaws together as they move forward, spring catches on the carrier adapted to close over and pull off the head of the cartridge and means for reciprocating the carrier.

13. The combination of a table, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation thereto, a pin projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support a cartridge shell, a pusher working in the pin and adapted to eject the primer from the shell,

means for causing the pusher to protrude from the pin, a tool carrier, means thereon for removing the cap chamber from the shell, means for gripping the shell upon the pin, spring catches on the carrier adapted to close over and pull off the head of the cartridge and means for reciprocating the carrier.

14- The combination of a table, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation thereto, a pin projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support a cartridge shell, a pusher working in the pin and adapted to eject the primer from the shell, means for causing the pusher to protrude from the pin, a tool carrier, means thereon for removing the cap chamber from the shell, means for gripping the shell upon the pin, spring catches on the carrier adapted to close over and pull off the-head of the cartridge, means on the carrier for removing the base wad, and means for reciprocating the carrier.

15. The combination of a table, means for imparting a step by step movement of rotation thereto, a pin projecting from the surface thereof and adapted to support a cartridge shell, a pusher working in the pin and adapted to eject the primer from the shell, means for causing the pusher to protrude from the pin, a tool carrier, means thereon for removing the primer thus ejected, means on the carrier for removing the cap chamber from the shell, a pair of sliding jaws adapted to grip the shell upon the win, an arm on the carrier adapted to slide the jaws backward and forward, means for forcing the jaws together as they move forward, spring catches on the carrier adapted to close over and pull off the head of the v cartridge, means on the carrier for removing the base wad and means for reciprocating the carrier.

HOWARD DOUGLAS HODGE. Witnesses:

GEORGE SMITH, Jnssn SOUTH. 

